5 Common Nuisances of Apartment Turnover Painting ❗

Expect to Deal with these -5- Common Nuisances if your doing Apartment turnover Painting❗

                       By: Anthony Ford

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      Listen, after painting several hundred apartment turns. I CAN TELL YOU. I HAVE SEEN IT ALL......

  When tenants move out.  80 Percent or more of them know they are never receiving their deposit back. And so leaving the apartment in the condition they found it in, is not a priority.

   And when it's time for that rental unit to be painted for turnover. You can expect to find these common nuisances. :



🙃  Trash and abandoned furniture❗

     Some Apartment Painters are also often commissioned to Trash out a unit,  and rest assured that most tenants are willing to leave behind furniture , and trash.

  What's super common is to see a large pile of trash somewhere in the unit. Sort of like a mini garbage dump. They create a garbage pile in a room or a corner and as they are moving their belongings out , they toss everything they dont want in that pile. And just leave it.

  Another super common thing is too find beds, dressers, tables, chairs, and heavy tv's.

  Any furniture item that is extremely large and heavy and holds no value. You better believe they are leaving it for the landlord to deal with.

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 Here is what you do to resolve this issue: 

 
      Keep lots of scrap metal and junker friends. 

 Grow your list of contacts that do scrapping and do junk cleanouts.

 Alot of the stuff you can get different guys to take for free.

( For instance a scrap metal guy will be interested in taking bed frames, and anything with metal content. You will be surprised at some of the things they can take to the scrap yard. )

 [A junker , is someone who scavenges through things and resales or collects the items.
. ( people who own thrift stores...etc)]


 Once you have gotten everyone to take what you can for free, usually you can offer one of these contact a fee to remove the rest and just dump it.









🙃Filth and Disgust

  From Bug infestations to pubic hair on bathroom baseboards, to rotten food, all the way to abandoned sex toys....

You will encounter it all with apartment turnover painting.

It is super common to find cock roach and bed bug issues, especially behind appliances.  WHEN PEOPLE LEAVE A PROPERT THAT THEY HOLD NO VALUE OF, THEY USUALLY REALLY DONT CARE.

   The things you may find that tip the disgusting meter are endless.

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Here is what you do to resolve this issue:
   

    If your commissioned to do the whole turnover. Then you want to start building cleaning contacts immediately.

Or clean it yourself.

If your not. And a Property managernor owner asks you to paint something that is totally disgusting......... Contact them and ask that they clean the unit first. Usually if the unit is super gross. They wont mind. And will understand.

 Alot of landlords and managers will try and get the turn work done without cleaning the unit first. This is because they know they will have to clean it at the very end as well, to clean up after all the contractors and technicians. They dont want to spend the money to do it twice.

 So you may want to grow thick skin, and not ask for this on every unit your given.

But if it is absolutely too disgusting. Most.of the time they will understand. And will have no issue with sending you a cleaner.

   When I painted 200 plus units a year, I always kept gloves and a facemask to protect my airways and for odor.

If your going to be doing apartment turn painting they are must have tools.






🙃Disgusting Walls and Unidentified Stains❗


 Well your stain blocking ability will be tested painting apartments. You will find things on walls that will blow your mind.

  Once I went into a apartment close to the university of Cincinnati and found a crazy beautiful mural painted on one of the bedroom walls. It was of a owl in attack position in flight. The artist who did this mural was no doubt extremely talented.

  He or She used spray paint. And evidently some really high end spray paint because it bleed through about 3 coats of latex primer and paint. Ultimately I had to come in and use Kilz oil based primer to block out the mural.

   Although not a common occurrence, what is common on apartment walls is amateurish drawings, crayon and marker, boogers, urine, blood, pet skin oil, soda, coffee, food, water damage, and food old candle wax.

I never understood the candle wax thing and how someone could just let a burning candle just gleek down the side of their wall. 😂😂😂😂 crazy❗


Expect to also find grease stains on walls and ceilings in the kitchen or cooking area.

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Here is what you do to resolve the issue:

   I highly suggest you read and study priming and stain blocking content online.

 AEC Online Daily offers a free course that takes you through the different primers and stain blockers available today and their applications.

 For instance to block out a water stain on a wall, it is best to use a oil based primer/stainblocker.

   But I'll keep it super simple for you. 99% of all the stains that you find kilz spray can primer will eliminate.

So keep always on you atleast 3 cans of kilz or bullseye123 originial.

  Keep on you a good 6 in 1 painters tool or 4 to 6 inch drywall knife to be able to scrap loose any nasty things off the walls and ceilings .

( for example you need to scrap off all the candle wax you find. You cannot just simply paint over it😂)

 After some time you begin to learn the stains that you can block out with heavy coats of latex. And that will cut down on you breathing I'm stain blocker constantly 😂

🙃 Maintenance Techs and other Contractors. 

Nothing Is more aggravating than being in a groove and pumping out an apartment paint turn and then suddenly a maintenance tech shows up to do work to the unit. 

  Now let me say sometimes this is out of necessity and is not a disrespect thing. 

They have been dispatched to do something the management wants them to do asap regardless of what else is happening in the unit.

 But other times it can be pure disrespect..... infact I've had maintenance guys try to start a turnover while I'm still painting. This is total lack of respect really. They are letting you know .... " hey I'm gonna do this now move".

Same with other contractors. They will show up and if you yield the OPPURTUNITY to them, absolutely they will come in and get their scope of work done so they can get paid.

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Here is what you do to resolve the issue:



   I've found one key phrase to be effective in dealing with this.

And before you use it , you need to determine whether or not they are their on immediate orders . Or if they are just being disrespectful... or naively being disrespectful. 

If indeed they are there for a emergency or something that needs to be done right away... yield and work with them.

If not use this phrase to see if you can get them to leave without conflict.

" why would you need to come and start an scope of work on top of mine, I'll be done in x amount of time, can you not come back then?"


    Usually this let's them know your agitated with them being there and they will kick rocks.

   This can be a annoying part of painting apartments.

The better ran and managed a property is, the less you will have this.




🙃  Poor Quality Paint

  Property management firms buy cheap paint, if your working for a small private investors sometimes you may have wiggle room if your buying the paint yourself.

 However most often. Prices for apartment painting are low and so economy paints are used. 

  I've had some before that took 4 or 5 coats to make the unit look uniform.

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Here is how to resolve the issue:

Tell the manager or property owner that you can only do two coats for the price. Let them know a price for 3 coats or 4 if it needs that much.

Or offer to use your primers and upcharge them.

Have your paint rep reach out to them. You would be surprised how much work your paint rep will do for you if you let them.
Tell him or her what may be better suited and he may get them to upgrade especially if they like you as a painter.

Dont get stuck paintIng for a property that has horrible cheap coatings that font cover. You will be out of money quickly painting their units 4 times each.

Either resolve the issue with them or move on.

You need to be aware that some firms goal is to turn at the lowest rate and they buy ultra cheap materials and switch painters weekly.

Move on... you will be happier.

Stick with properties that use decent economy coatings. And want to build a longterm relationship with you.



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Anthony Ford is the Proprietor of ExtraPrep Pro Painting LLC in Northern Kentucky just minutes south of Cincinnati Ohio. 

  He regularly writes content on the paint trade industry and has paint turned over 1k rental units to date. 

 www.extrapreppro.com


Anthony's Personal Contact info:

📩 Anthony@extrapreppropainting.com

📲 (859)815-0652